Questions and answers

Yes. RowingBuddy is free to row, and you don’t need an account.

No. RowingBuddy runs in Chrome or Edge on a computer or an Android phone or tablet: open the page, connect your rower and row. The RowingBuddy app for iPhone and iPad is coming. Open RowingBuddy.

It’s a game first: you race pacers and your own best row through 3D worlds, rather than following video routes or classes. It runs in your browser with nothing to install, and works with the rower you already have.

Yes. Choose Simulator when you connect: a virtual rower rows for you, so you can look around every world and workout before you sit on a real one.

No. Without one, your rows stay on your device. With an account you can back up your rows, see them on all your devices and appear on the leaderboards, each only if you choose to.

A SmartRow, a WaterRower S4 with the Bluetooth ComModule, a Concept2 RowErg with the PM5 monitor, and any rowing machine with standard fitness Bluetooth (FTMS), including the SmartRow app’s broadcast mode. No rower yet? Try everything with the built-in simulator.

A computer, or an Android phone or tablet, with Chrome or Edge: they connect to the rower over Bluetooth. Browsers on iPhone and iPad can’t connect to a rower yet; the RowingBuddy app for iPhone and iPad is coming.

Yes. RowingBuddy connects to the Concept2 PM5 monitor over Bluetooth, so a RowErg with a PM5 works in every world and workout. The older PM3 and PM4 have no Bluetooth. How to connect a Concept2.

Wake it first: pull the handle once for a SmartRow, or take a stroke or press a button on a WaterRower S4 or other monitor. Close any other rowing app on your phone or tablet, because a rower only talks to one app at a time. Check that Bluetooth is on and that you’re using Chrome or Edge.

Mirror or cast your screen. On Android, use Cast or Smart View to a Chromecast or Google TV; on iPhone, Screen Mirroring to an Apple TV or AirPlay TV. A USB-C to HDMI cable gives the sharpest picture with no delay. Turn the phone sideways before you start mirroring so the picture fills the TV. The full guide to rowing on your TV.

Races over 500 m, 1,000 m, 2,000 m and 5,000 m; 10, 20 and 30 minutes against the clock; intervals such as 8 × 250 m, 5 × 500 m, 4 × 4 minutes, a pyramid and a rate ladder; and Just row, with no target at all.

Three pacers in every race: one starts fast, one rows an even pace and one finishes strong. Once you’ve rowed a workout, your best row on it comes back as a ghost boat to beat.

Yes. Sound, music and the spoken coach each have their own switch in Settings, where you can also pick the coach’s voice.

It reads distance, pace, power and stroke rate from your rower, on your device. It never reads heart rate or other health data. Anonymous usage numbers can be switched off in Settings. The privacy policy has the details. Read the privacy policy.

Yes. If you have an account, Download my data on the Account screen gives you everything as a file, and Delete account removes your account and every row from the server. Rows on your device stay there.